


Hockey For Beginners

by Bittersweet



Series: Hockey For Beginners [1]
Category: Hockey RPF, The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Colorado Avalanche, M/M, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 12:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2812220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittersweet/pseuds/Bittersweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ezra's been seeing someone new and has developed a sudden interest in hockey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hockey For Beginners

“What are you reading Ezra?” Buck asked curiously from his desk as they waited for Chris and Josiah to get out of a meeting with the director. The intense look of concentration on Ezra’s face didn’t change as he flipped the page.

Buck exchanged a look with the other members of the team, Vin shrugging slightly while Nathan and J.D. just looked amused. Buck stood up and walked over to Ezra’s desk. The undercover agent took no notice of him until Buck plucked the book from his hands.

“Hockey for beginners,” Buck read the tittle out loud over Ezra’s objections. He stared at Ezra then started to grin. “Is this to do with this new guy you’ve been seeing?”

Ezra’s cheeks heated up. “Perhaps I am merely attempting to improve my understanding of popular past times.” He sighed when the others continued to look at him sceptically. 

“There’s a game tonight and he asked me to go. May I have my book back now?”

“You can’t learn about hockey from a book!” Buck objected.

“Certainly not if you don’t return it.”

“Back me up on this guys,” Buck said ignoring Ezra and glancing about.

Nathan shrugged. “I’m more of a football guy.”

“I played NHL 2014,” J.D. said. “Does that count?”

Buck gave a long suffering sigh. “Don’t bother,” he told Vin as the former sniper opened his mouth. “I know sports aren’t your thing.” He dropped dramatically back into his chair, dropping Ezra’s book on his desk.

“I played left wing in high school,” Vin said.

“Really?” Buck said surprised but pleased. “I was defense.”

“As fascinating as this is,” Ezra drawled standing up and walking over to Buck’s desk to reclaim his book, “I am merely endeavouring to understand the basics of the sport.”

“What you need is someone to show you how the game works,” Buck said. “I bet we could throw a game together if we can get out of here before the Director hands us another case.”

“I would say from the amount of time that Misters Larabee and Sanchez have been in Director Travis’ office that there is little hope of leaving early. Perhaps there has been a bomb threat that requires our undivided attention.” Ezra sounded almost hopeful.

“Nope,” Chris said walking into the bull pen with Josiah. “Just reviewing our last case.”

“We’re going to have an impromptu hockey game,” Buck said grinning at the look of disappointment that crossed Ezra’s normally unreadable face. “You in?”

“It’s so Ezra can impress his new boyfriend,” Nathan explained.

Chris looked at the clock. “It’s 1 o’clock on a Tuesday—”

“We can hardly leave half way through the workday—” Ezra jumped in.

“—there’s nothing going on,” Chris finished speaking over Ezra and grinning wickedly at him. “We’ve all got our pagers if something comes up. I don’t see why we can’t take a half day for a team building exercise.”

Buck whooped triumphantly and Ezra let out a long suffering sigh.

 

They had gathered in the back parking lot of Buck’s building, managing to scrounge up enough hockey sticks for all seven of them and a few bright yellow tennis balls.

The October air was creeping towards freezing and Ezra flipped the collar of his Armani coat up and scrunched his shoulders to try and stay warm as Buck looked at them all with a frown.

“All right,” Buck said crisply. “We don’t really have enough guys to do this exactly—”

“What is the point of this then Mr. Wilmington?”

Buck ignored Ezra and continued, “–but I think we can get the main points across if we split into teams of three. You’ve got good reflexes J.D. you want to be goalie?”

“Sure,” J.D. said sounding entirely too cheerful for someone forced to stand in a parking lot in the cold. “What do I do?”

“Stop anything that comes at you,” Buck said grinning.

Ezra ended up on Buck’s team with Vin; Nathan and Josiah joining Chris. He hated to admit it but the game made far more sense as Buck quickly outlined the rules before they started playing.

“You forget how to play Cowboy?” Buck shouted stealing the tennis ball from Chris and sending it flying towards J.D.’s makeshift goal between two recycling bins.

Josiah intercepted it and passed it to Nathan who tucked it neatly past J.D.

“You forget how to set up a play?” Chris countered.

“Shit!” Buck said glaring at Josiah and Nathan as Vin snagged the ball and flipped it over to Ezra who had no idea what to do with it. “I think we’ve been had. You said you’d never played!” He blocked Chris long enough for Ezra to pass back to Vin.

“I said I preferred football,” Nathan said scoring for his team again. “I never said I couldn’t play.”

Josiah and Chris laughed at the murderous look on Buck’s face.

“All right,” Buck said grinning, never able to stay annoyed for long. “But now it’s on!”

 

They lost anyway though not for lack of trying.

“That was awesome!” J.D. said still bouncing with limitless energy after stopping shots from both teams for nearly two hours. “Maybe we could make this a Tuesday tradition or something?”

“Lord forbid,” Ezra said gathering his coat from where he had tossed it across the railing. He smiled faintly. “I must admit, despite my trepidation this outing was somewhat enjoyable.”

“Now you can impress the guy with your knowledge,” Buck teased.

Ezra glanced at his watch. “Speaking of which I need to be going if I want a chance to shower before attending this event.” He waved as he walked over to his Jag and the rest left shortly after.

Buck was just stepping out of the shower when his phone rang from where he had left it on his night table. He swore and hurried to answer it, slinging a towel loosely about his hips as he went.

“What’s up Ezra?” he asked bracing for the news that they were needed back in the office.

“You needn’t worry Mr. Wilmington,” Ezra said dryly. “This is merely a social call.”

“Good,” Buck said relaxing a little. “I love my job but sometimes a guy needs a night off right?” he said grinning.

“Yes well, that is why I am calling. I have an extra ticket to the game tonight and I thought since you had been kind enough to explain the sport you might like to accompany me.”

Buck frowned and glanced at the clock. It was just about six and he knew the game started at seven. Why would Ezra suddenly have an extra ticket? His heart sank, he hoped Ezra’s mystery man hadn’t canceled on him. “Are you sure?”

“I merely thought you would enjoy it,” Ezra said. “If you have other plans please don’t feel obliged—”

“No,” Buck interrupted, if Ezra was determined to go to the game he wouldn’t make him go alone. “I’ll come, thanks. Do you want to meet at the arena?”

“I can stop at your apartment on my way if you would like.”

“Sure,” Buck agreed. They ended the call and Buck hurriedly dressed. Less than ten minutes later his phone buzzed with a text from Ezra that he was waiting outside.

They made it to the arena and to their seats in time to see the end of the warm up. They settled into their seats after the anthem and Buck studied Ezra out of the corner of his eye. He wished the undercover agent was easier to read, he looked relaxed and unconcerned, intent on watching the ice, but looks so rarely told the whole story where Ezra was concerned.

Buck got caught up in the game, especially when the Avs started scoring, and it wasn’t until after the heartbreaking overtime loss that he remembered he was supposed to be making sure Ezra was all right. “Do you want to grab a drink?” he asked as they left their seats after waiting for most of the other fans to clear.

Ezra seemed distracted as he joined the people still milling about the team store. “Sorry?” he said after several minutes had passed.

“I think they’re closing up soon,” Buck said grinning at the normally unflappable agent. “You’re not going to make the staff stay late because you can’t decide whether to buy that puck or not are you?”

Ezra looked down at the printed puck he kept puck he was holding and put it back on the shelf decisively. “No. We should—”

“Ezra!” a voice interrupted and Buck turned to see a well-muscled dark haired man jogging up to them. “You came! I honestly thought you’d back out.”

Buck’s jaw dropped as he recognized the man and he looked at Ezra who was smiling.

“I said I’d come,” Ezra said. “I’m sorry you didn’t win.”

“That’s how it goes; we’ll beat them next time.” He looked at Buck who was still staring at the two of them.

“This Is Buck Wilmington,” Ezra said remembering his manners. “Buck, this is Maxime Talbot.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Talbot said shaking Buck’s hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Really?” Buck looked at Ezra in surprise.

“Well no,” Talbot admitted grinning. “But I’m still glad to meet one of Ezra’s friends; I'm glad that extra ticket didn't go to waste. We were going to grab dinner would you like to join us?”

“Uh no thanks I’d better not. It was nice meeting you.”

“You too. Take care.”

They parted ways, Buck with the keys to Ezra’s Jag which any other day would have been the most shocking thing to happen, and Buck was half way home before it sank in that Ezra was dating a hockey player. He laughed; the rest of the team was never going to believe this.


End file.
